Rankin's images promote campaign to save women's sight

the pictures, by the leading fashion photographer Rankin and published exclusively in The Independent on Sunday ahead of their release next week, are intended to highlight the plight of the millions of women

around the world who have needlessly gone blind. Rankin, who co-founded Dazed & Confused magazine and is also known for his portraits of celebrities such as Kylie Minogue and Cate Blanchett, produced the images for the charity Sightsavers to mark World Sight Day on Thursday. The photographer and the charity wanted to draw attention to the fact that two-thirds of the 45 million blind people in the world are women and 90 per cent of those live in the developing world. “Eyesight is something that as a photographer I’m very nervous about,” Rankin said. “People say ‘what’s the worst thing that could happen?’ And I say ‘to lose my sight’. It’s not only my life and business but the sense that I love the most